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Fanny Burney: Her Life, 1752 - 1849
London, Chatto & Windus (1998). First edition. Fine- hardcover in Fine dustjacket. Book is clean, tight and straight with a bookplate on front endpaper. DJ in archival mylar cover. Ships from the US. Biography. (zB173)
- GenresBiography
358 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 13, 2022
I read about two-thirds of this biography (the portion of Fanny Burney’s life after the year 1802 doesn’t concern me much) so this is not an evaluation of the complete work.
This is the fourth Burney biography I have read, and while it is not the most authoritative (Claire Harman’s has that honor) or the one with the greatest literary insight (Margaret Doody’s), I found it very valuable for its focus on Burney’s life in the context of her family. I was looking for a picture of her daily life and relationships, and I found it here. Sometimes Chisholm too readily accepts traditional myths about Burney’s life (e.g., that she burned her childhood writings because her stepmother disapproved of them), but those are minor issues. Her work helped me picture in my mind many important moments of Burney’s life, and for that I am grateful.
This is the fourth Burney biography I have read, and while it is not the most authoritative (Claire Harman’s has that honor) or the one with the greatest literary insight (Margaret Doody’s), I found it very valuable for its focus on Burney’s life in the context of her family. I was looking for a picture of her daily life and relationships, and I found it here. Sometimes Chisholm too readily accepts traditional myths about Burney’s life (e.g., that she burned her childhood writings because her stepmother disapproved of them), but those are minor issues. Her work helped me picture in my mind many important moments of Burney’s life, and for that I am grateful.
December 24, 2018
She has been called "the mother of English fiction" by Virginia Woolf; and Jane Austen purloined the title of her best-loved novel from the final words of Cecilia. She attended Queen Charlotte, met Napoleon Bonaparte, bantered with Dr. Samuel Johnson, and charmed David Garrick. Yet history has largely forgotten Frances "Fanny" Burney, who was one of the best known English novelists of the late 18th Century. So as a fan of Austen's, I felt it would behoove me to know more about the trailblazer who so greatly influenced her. To that end, Kate Chisolm's biography Fanny Burney: Her Life, 1752-1849 provided me with a very thorough portrait of the author who paved the way for one of the best-known and well-loved novelists of the 19th Century.
Born to well-known organist/composer/music historian Dr. Charles Burney in 1752, young Fanny was considered the least promising of the Burney children. She was quite shy and possibly had a learning disability that hindered her ability to read until she was nearly 10. However, she developed an uncanny ability to memorize the conversations she overheard and a propensity to closely study the people with whom she came in contact -- which would greatly aid her in developing both characters and dialogue when she wrote. She was also an avid diarist, keeping a log of her daily life from a very early age. While Dr. Burney was undoubtedly a gifted and intelligent man, the family struggled financially, which greatly affected Fanny's (and her sisters') marriageability and, I believe, partly affected her interest in marrying. She did show some interest in two young men while she was young, but did not marry until she was nearly 41. Then, she married for love, rather than for status or money; and continued to struggle, financially, throughout her adult life.
Fanny's best-known work, Evelina, Or The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World was anonymously published in 1778, with two of Fanny's relatives -- her brother, Charles; and cousin, Edward -- assisting her in negotiations with publisher Thomas Lowndes, who paid her a paltry 20 guineas for the novel. While it was originally conceived as a serial, it was published as a whole in three volumes. Eventually, her secret was revealed to the public, and Fanny skyrocketed to fame. Four novels followed: Cecilia (1782), Camilla (1796), and The Wanderer (1814), which was panned by the critics and public alike. It seems that -- as Fanny had suspected -- her marriage in 1793 to French emigre Alexandre d'Arblay would greatly affect her ability to write and publish. In fact, her best-loved works are the earliest ones.
While many may consider her an early feminist -- and in many ways, Fanny was quite forward-thinking in her belief that women should be free to live on their own and support themselves -- she was, in fact, quite severe on The Bluestocking Society -- a group of privileged, well-educated upper-class women who considered themselves literati and advocated for the education of women. Fanny's comedy "The Witlings" is largely a lampoon of this group. It was never published or produced as a play during Fanny's lifetime largely due to the fact that Fanny's best mentors feared that a public viewing of this work would have resulted in a horrid rift with the powerful women's group.
Fanny was also quite conservative and almost morally prudish. She decisively severed ties with several close female acquaintances (including Dr. Johnson's biographer, Hester Thrale-Piozzi) who were carrying on illicit love affairs; and was continually concerned about her reputation.
By pouring over Burney's own diaries and letters, Chisolm has been able to reconstruct Fanny's complex life, from her staid and sad childhood to her staid and sad adulthood. In fact, Chisolm reproduces large sections of those documents -- many in French (the native language of Fanny's husband), which can frustrate a non-French-speaker, such as myself. Additionally, Chisolm presents a lot of minutiae, which adds length, but not necessarily any depth, to the text. However, as mentioned above, I felt that Chisolm did an admirable job of presenting a thorough portrait of Fanny Burney that was perfectly appropriate for the casual reader, if not for a researcher.
Read it? Yes, if you're a fan of Jane Austen and want to learn a little more about the woman who greatly influenced her. Otherwise, you'll probably want to "pass" on this one.
Born to well-known organist/composer/music historian Dr. Charles Burney in 1752, young Fanny was considered the least promising of the Burney children. She was quite shy and possibly had a learning disability that hindered her ability to read until she was nearly 10. However, she developed an uncanny ability to memorize the conversations she overheard and a propensity to closely study the people with whom she came in contact -- which would greatly aid her in developing both characters and dialogue when she wrote. She was also an avid diarist, keeping a log of her daily life from a very early age. While Dr. Burney was undoubtedly a gifted and intelligent man, the family struggled financially, which greatly affected Fanny's (and her sisters') marriageability and, I believe, partly affected her interest in marrying. She did show some interest in two young men while she was young, but did not marry until she was nearly 41. Then, she married for love, rather than for status or money; and continued to struggle, financially, throughout her adult life.
Fanny's best-known work, Evelina, Or The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World was anonymously published in 1778, with two of Fanny's relatives -- her brother, Charles; and cousin, Edward -- assisting her in negotiations with publisher Thomas Lowndes, who paid her a paltry 20 guineas for the novel. While it was originally conceived as a serial, it was published as a whole in three volumes. Eventually, her secret was revealed to the public, and Fanny skyrocketed to fame. Four novels followed: Cecilia (1782), Camilla (1796), and The Wanderer (1814), which was panned by the critics and public alike. It seems that -- as Fanny had suspected -- her marriage in 1793 to French emigre Alexandre d'Arblay would greatly affect her ability to write and publish. In fact, her best-loved works are the earliest ones.
While many may consider her an early feminist -- and in many ways, Fanny was quite forward-thinking in her belief that women should be free to live on their own and support themselves -- she was, in fact, quite severe on The Bluestocking Society -- a group of privileged, well-educated upper-class women who considered themselves literati and advocated for the education of women. Fanny's comedy "The Witlings" is largely a lampoon of this group. It was never published or produced as a play during Fanny's lifetime largely due to the fact that Fanny's best mentors feared that a public viewing of this work would have resulted in a horrid rift with the powerful women's group.
Fanny was also quite conservative and almost morally prudish. She decisively severed ties with several close female acquaintances (including Dr. Johnson's biographer, Hester Thrale-Piozzi) who were carrying on illicit love affairs; and was continually concerned about her reputation.
By pouring over Burney's own diaries and letters, Chisolm has been able to reconstruct Fanny's complex life, from her staid and sad childhood to her staid and sad adulthood. In fact, Chisolm reproduces large sections of those documents -- many in French (the native language of Fanny's husband), which can frustrate a non-French-speaker, such as myself. Additionally, Chisolm presents a lot of minutiae, which adds length, but not necessarily any depth, to the text. However, as mentioned above, I felt that Chisolm did an admirable job of presenting a thorough portrait of Fanny Burney that was perfectly appropriate for the casual reader, if not for a researcher.
Read it? Yes, if you're a fan of Jane Austen and want to learn a little more about the woman who greatly influenced her. Otherwise, you'll probably want to "pass" on this one.
July 25, 2023
This was my introduction to the life of Fanny Burney.
Having read a bio of Samual Johnson and Hester Thrale, and encountered this book in a National Trust second-hand shop, it was an obvious choice to read.
I enjoyed it. It has plenty of quotes from original sources and comes across as authoratative. I see other reviewers consider it inferior, in some ways, to other bios.
It has plenty of notes and a strong bibliography, making follow up easier.
Having read a bio of Samual Johnson and Hester Thrale, and encountered this book in a National Trust second-hand shop, it was an obvious choice to read.
I enjoyed it. It has plenty of quotes from original sources and comes across as authoratative. I see other reviewers consider it inferior, in some ways, to other bios.
It has plenty of notes and a strong bibliography, making follow up easier.
March 4, 2011
While Fanny (Frances) Burney's 18th century fiction all remain in print, her current popularity pales in comparison to her successor and one of her great fans, Jane Austen and her novels (you can see the influence in terms of the play of irony and satire in her characterisation of types of personality - especially those individuals who are ridiculous, yet take themselves so seriously; e.g., in Fanny Burney's wonderful first novel, Evelina: Or the History of A Young Lady's Entrance into the World (Oxford World's Classics), her absurd and monstrous egomaniac character Madame Duval, compares ably in sharp satire with Austen's Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (Wordsworth Classics).
Kate Chisholm offers a studied, well-researched and beautifully written - and always entertaining and fascinating - biography, while duly and rightly acknowledging the importance of her predecessor's biographical work (Professor Joyce Hemlow's, mos especially).
Samuel Johnson, as quoted by Hester Thrale of the same period, told Dr Burney, Fanny's father, said of Evelina that he had been 'full of the praises of the Book I had lent him & protesting that there were passages in t which might do honour to richardson', was 'ardent after the denouement [vol. 1 of Evelina]'; and Thrale's own famous diaries, she wrote 'Johnson says Harry [Henry] Fielding never did any thing equal to the 2nd Vol of Evelina.' Austen, as I started off saying, was a big fan, and often quoted her or made reference to her characters in her letters to her sister, Cassandra, among others.
As any fan of biographies knows, the mark of a truly great - or even good - biography of a writer is that it compels you to want to read the author's work. Chisholm's biog is in that league (great!), and she provides clear context and surveys of all her work, as well as the many challenges and important experiences of her life, quoting appositely from her novels and the many volumes of her diaries, letters and journals.
Kate Chisholm offers a studied, well-researched and beautifully written - and always entertaining and fascinating - biography, while duly and rightly acknowledging the importance of her predecessor's biographical work (Professor Joyce Hemlow's, mos especially).
Samuel Johnson, as quoted by Hester Thrale of the same period, told Dr Burney, Fanny's father, said of Evelina that he had been 'full of the praises of the Book I had lent him & protesting that there were passages in t which might do honour to richardson', was 'ardent after the denouement [vol. 1 of Evelina]'; and Thrale's own famous diaries, she wrote 'Johnson says Harry [Henry] Fielding never did any thing equal to the 2nd Vol of Evelina.' Austen, as I started off saying, was a big fan, and often quoted her or made reference to her characters in her letters to her sister, Cassandra, among others.
As any fan of biographies knows, the mark of a truly great - or even good - biography of a writer is that it compels you to want to read the author's work. Chisholm's biog is in that league (great!), and she provides clear context and surveys of all her work, as well as the many challenges and important experiences of her life, quoting appositely from her novels and the many volumes of her diaries, letters and journals.
June 7, 2008
I enjoyed this biography of author Fanny Burney and found it very readable, but it is also quite short and doesn't always go into a lot of depth - so probably best for someone like me, who is interested in Burney but doesn't know all that much about her, rather than for experts.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews